I thought this would be an interesting topic, but let's try to to do it without going crazy with the criticism. It is natural for even your favorite bands to disappoint you at one time or another, but it is the best ones that rarely do it, which is why they are probably our favorites, right?
And to explain the "IN REAL TIME" things, means it has to be something that disappointed you at the time it actually happened, whether it be a studio album, a concert, an incident, etc. In other words, it can't be a "I got into so-and-so band, and when I listened to all of their albums from 20 years ago, the one I heard was really good wasn't, so it was disappointing to me," or anything like that. Make sense?
Okay, I'll take a shot at this by starting off with a few:
Porcupine Tree - The remaster of
Up the Downstair. I was so looking forward to this, but it was a major letdown. The timing of the disappointment was ironic, too, as I had just seen PT for the first time in Chicago back in '05, and when I got home the next day, the remaster had came in the mail, so I busted it right out and listened to it, only to be very disappointed. It has never really grown on me at all, and I always listen to the original version, when I listen to that CD.
Queensrÿche - They were one of my favorites back in the mid to late 90s (although they were only 27 in the recent favorite artists thread I did), thanks in large part to the awesomeness of
Promised Land. Sadly, they followed that up with the major thud otherwise known as
Hear in the Now Frontier. I tried like hell to like that CD, and even went through spells where I listened to it quite a bit, but I eventually had to accept that it just wasn't any good, outside of a few songs, making it one of the biggest disappointments in real time for me to date. My expectations for them went way down after that, which is why everything else new I have heard by them didn't register as as big a disappointment.
Dave Matthews Band -
Everyday. I cannot put into words what a disappointment it was to follow up the masterpiece that was Before These Crowded Streets with something as pitiful as
Everyday.
Spock's Beard/Neal Morse - Neal leaving the band in 2002. I remember the utter shock and dismay of the entire membership at SB's forum (which was pretty kicking back then) when it became official that Neal had left the band. Regardless of the reasons why he left, and whether anyone agreed with or understood them, it was still extremely disappointing to see the creative driving force of the band depart just when they had hit their stride.